


An Unexpected Variable

by MeanieGreenieZucchini



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff, I have a lot of feelings about entrapta and I think she deserves a little more love ok, Im not sure where this is going but its cute and i like it, Inexperience, LISTEN OK, Like baby amounts of angst, Mild Angst, Mostly Fluff, Pining, also Catra is mean sometimes, awkward lesbians, but thats also because shes gay and angry, ok time to stop misusing the tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 16:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16936767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeanieGreenieZucchini/pseuds/MeanieGreenieZucchini
Summary: Entrapta is about to make a startling realization, and she's not quite sure what to do about it. What follows is an attempt to understand the most unpredictable of all human outliers - love.A short little Entrapta/Scorpia fic that came to me last night that kept me from sleeping peacefully until i started it.





	An Unexpected Variable

The dim light radiating through the metal corridors, the occasional blasts of steam through the interwoven pipes and nozzles, the constantly shifting and mechanical backbone of the Fright Zone, all of this together would make most people turn tail and run away – but Entrapta wasn’t like most people. This was something she’s always known, and at the moment, it isn’t something that bothered her. As long as she was able to work on whatever interested her and could build robotic companions to help her accomplish her goals, she was happy. That’s the way things have always been for Entrapta, and part of the reason why she liked her maze-like castle up in the mountains. The only real difference between her old home and her new one amongst the Horde is that now there’s other people who don’t mind her unorthodox behavior.

That wasn’t the only difference, however.

Soldering together pieces of a circuit board, Entrapta had her rather ominous looking mask over her face. It was in the middle of assembly that she felt the most at ease, taking the chance to reflect on previous moments of discovery or interesting events that have transpired. Something about the smell of fusing metal and fresh silicone wiring just sets the mood for a little introspection. The sound of the hissing soldering gun rattled through the dark, spacious room as Entrapta was almost unconsciously toiling away.

A knock at the door, however, interrupted what would be the finishing touches on another Emily model robot as Entrapta sat up from her hunched position. Placing the tools down with her hair-hands, she walked over to the door, opening it.

“Gyah! Oh, sorry, you scared me with that mask,” Scorpia said with a startle, almost dropping the tray in her claws.

“Oh, sorry,” Entrapta replied, lifting the mask to reveal her face covered in grime and sweat. Nothing builds character quite like a little elbow grease, or in her case, literal grease. Her attention was drawn to the tray the larger princess had in her grasp, which was covered in miniature bowls of assorted foodstuffs. Entrapta audibly gasped. “Wow, is that…”

“Yeah, I put in a request with the kitchen staff. It turns out it’s not a big deal to cook something other than porridge, they just struggled finding bowls small enough,” Scorpia said with a slight laugh. She smiled as Entrapta replied with a squeal of excitement.

“Yes! Finally, I haven’t been able to get a good meal since I got here, you have no idea how intimidating food can be when it’s so…big!” Entrapta said, taking the tray excitedly.

“I can imagine. Hey,” Scorpia said, holding her claws behind her back, “do you think you might want to go do something later? I mean, if you want that is. You’re clearly busy with your robo-thingies and stuff, so I don’t mean to interrupt. But there’s this place that I’ve been meaning to show you,” she said with a hint of something more as she tried to avoid eye contact.

Entrapta only blinked in reply. “I don’t know, I guess we could spend time, sure! I’m not used to the whole…people…asking me out idea…” She said, creating an awkward silence as the two girls seemingly struggled to look each other in the eye. Unaware of the choice in words she had just used, Entrapta could feel her heart beat steadily increasing as she caught glances of Scorpia. The dark red carapace of her claws and tail contrasted her pale skin and hair. Something about her always intrigued Entrapta, but she would not admit what it was to herself.

“Well,” Scorpia said breaking the silence, “it can be a date if you want it to be? How about I meet you here later tonight? We can just go from there?” Scorpia gave Entrapta a look that seemed to ask for a sincere reply. Despite her intimidating size and strength, her eyes could be very soft and her lips looked pretty with that black lipstick. Entrapta found it hard to focus as she felt her face begin to flush.

“Yes-that-sounds-great-ok-bye!” She said in a hurried voice as she quickly shut the door. Entrapta let out a sigh as she sat the tray down. Something was happening to her, and she needed answers – now. “Medi-Bot, analysis,” she said as she hurried over to the chair where a slender, articulate robot stood by. At its maker’s demand, the robot buzzed to life and scanned the purple-hair princess with a repurposed laser device. Entrapta had this robot built in the case she ever needed medical attention, and was fully equipped with first aid implements, but now it was going to provide an explanation for what’s going on with her body.

_> >SUBJECT: ENTRAPTA. _

_> >ANALYZING…_

Entrapta shifted nervously in her seat. The scanner swept up and down her body, the robot chattering as the processor was busy interpreting the data. In the same static voice as before, it responded.

>>SUBJECT APPEARS TO HAVE AN ACCELRATED HEART-RATE, PERSPIRATION HAS INCREASED, PUPILS HAVE DILATED.

>>ANALYSIS COMPLETE

“Gah! I could’ve told you that myself, what does it mean Medi-Bot?” Entrapta fidgeted her fingers in her hand as she awaited the response. After a moment of processing, the machine belted a response.

_> >STIMULI PRIOR TO PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL: INTRODUCTION OF FOERIGN ELEMENT ENTITLED: SCORPIA. _

_> >CONCLUSION: SUBJECT HAS INTIMATE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TOWARDS STIMULI. CONSULT OTHERS FOR FUTURE ACTION. _

Entrapta was secretly hoping the machine would say something else, literally anything other than that. It had only been a few weeks since she had called the Fright Zone her home, and over the course of that short time, she found herself growing more and more fond of Scorpia. How couldn’t she? Scorpia was the first person in a long time who just accepted Entrapta for who she was. She never thought it was odd when Entrapta would spend so long doing what she loved. Also, Scorpia seemed to always have her back, especially when Catra was feeling particularly crabby. For once, it was another person that Entrapta didn’t feel like she had to take apart to understand.

Well, at least someone who she would miss if she _did_ take them apart.

Entrapta went to consult her tapes. Her habit of recording and logging her thoughts and feelings seemed to come in handy at this moment. Too bad there wasn’t a way to skim over its content more efficiently. Clamoring to her collection of audio cassettes, she popped one in and skipped back and forth to find what she was looking for. Entrapta’s voice played out from the tiny device as she sought wisdom from her past ramblings.

_The plumbing around here could be optimized in order to –_

Skip.

_It appears that Emily’s internal gyroscope needs recalibrating –_

Skip.

_Update on profile for Scorpia –_

 Perfect. Entrapta sat and listened as the Entrapta of two weeks ago began to discuss the anomaly at hand.

_Update on profile for Scorpia: an absolute mystery. Despite physical examination and intensive profiling, subject remains neutral to me, maybe even positive. Repeated efforts for this, “hanging out,” have been attempted by the subject, but all have been declined due to fear of possible implications. However, socialization is strangely desired from my end. Unlike any previous established relationships, this one seems…different. Awaiting further updates._

Entrapta groaned and loaded a more recent tape. It seems this is not an entirely recent phenomenon after all. Is this what could be described as true friendship, or something more? Entrapta wasn’t sure if it was even possible to have more than friendship, or at least, she might have if she had a friendship in the first place. She shrugged the thought off and found the next part in her tape.

_Another update: Scorpia said she liked the new design I had made for Emily. She spent a good deal of time asking about the inner workings of many of my machines. I doubt she has a serious vested interest in learning how to construct the robots, as she admits her claws are not suited for delicate machinery. And yet, she seems enthusiastic to listen to me for long periods of time. Perhaps this is how her kind lulls prey before devouring them? Further research needs to be conducted._

Laughing at her past self’s naivety, Entrapta searched for the next tape. She remembers asking Scorpia about the very topic as it seemed humorous to her. It was a fascinating learning opportunity on her part as Scorpia explained a lot about her people. It’s only after learning the intricacies of molting cycles and pincer maintenance did Entrapta feel as though she was beginning to understand Scorpia – a thought that electrified her. If she didn’t even need to lift a dissection knife to learn about another person, then perhaps there was hope for making friends after all? She played the next tape, and almost immediately her tone changed. She didn’t like this one.

_I almost messed up, big time. Catra said some mean things about me and Emily today, and I almost lost my temper. Scorpia was patient with me, I know how I get when I’m really mad. She tried to tell me that Catra didn’t always mean some of the stuff she says, even though it really hurt me. I don’t get it, why can’t people just do what’s expected? It’s so hard to read them half the time –_

She paused the tape for a moment. Entrapta had to slow the pace down for her own sake. She recalled that day well, it was pretty messy. Now she knows it was just Catra’s way of getting to know people, but she had a way of saying the exact thing needed to really get under Entrapta’s skin. It was a good thing Scorpia was there to disarm the situation – quite literally – as Entrapta almost had Emily fire lasers at Catra. The tape resumed.

_But Scorpia explained that what Catra was doing was using “sarcasm”. I’ve not always been the best at picking up on those things, I know that I’m not like everyone else…She was so patient with me, no one’s ever sat with me while I was melting down. She was soft too, at least, compared to hugging a robot. *sniffle* I wish I could always feel that way…_

The recording stops there, but hours of audio were left empty on the tape as Entrapta recalls falling asleep with her finger on the record button. She also recalls crying just before recording that day. Entrapta put a new tape into the recorder and, after this revealing examination of her old thoughts, began to make a new recording.

“Update: it seems there’s no denying it any further. After a confirmation from Medi-Bot for the causes of my physical symptoms, I am currently convinced that I might have some new emotional state of being in regards to Scorpia. I would employ further research but I believe my methods to be ill-suited for this field. I hate that I’m about to say this but,” Entrapta paused, taking a deep breath.

“I need to consult outside help on the matter.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, this is gonna be a gay one folks.  
> Just a few quick things: this is in the same continuity as my other fics so uh yeah, next chapter there might be some uh,,interesting things happening. Also, I headcanon Entrapta as being autistic, but as someone who isn't autistic themselves, I don't feel qualified putting that in the tags. If anything about the portrayal here is a misrepresentation or insensitive then please let me know. It's not a central part of the story or explicitly stated like how I write characters that I can personally write about from my own lived experience, so yeah.  
> This one is probably going to be three, maybe four chapters? I'm not sure, but if you liked it then stay tuned!


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